Fusion breakfast item pulled from the menu before sales begin.
Earlier this month, Japanese soba chain Fuji Soba created a stir when they announced they would be releasing a legendary menu item oft whispered about from the days of yore: Toast Soba.
In announcing the new release, Fuji Soba dubbed it a “limited resurrection” of a dish that nobody can confirm or deny existing on the menu in the past, referring to it as “a cup of UMN“, with “UMN” referring to “Unidentified Mysterious Noodle“, due to its unknown heritage.
The unusual dish was due to go on sale exclusively at the chain’s Kitasenju East Exit store in Tokyo at 7 a.m. on 17 August, but as soon as it was unveiled on Fuji Soba’s official Twitter account, the news went viral, with people everywhere expressing their desire to try the fusion noodle-toast combination.
▼ Noodles with a side of toast for breakfast — or should that be toast with a side of noodles? — for 400 yen (US$3.62)
While Fuji Soba no doubt knew the dish would attract attention, the response from the public exceeded everyone’s expectations, with the tweet and official website receiving ten times more traffic than their usual promotions. This popularity ended up being the noodle’s demise, however, as Fuji Soba announced on 11 August that they would no longer be going ahead with the new product as planned, cancelling the launch and advising that it would be postponed for a later date.
▼ The promotional image now has a large “延期” (“Postponed”) message across the bottom in red.
Fuji Soba says the reason for the sudden postponement was due to safety concerns regarding people creating unsafe levels of congestion at the store, which would be particularly dangerous during the current pandemic.
According to the original press release, the Toast Soba was limited to only 20 meals, which would’ve created crowds outside the store well before opening time. Fuji Soba was also concerned about people travelling long distances only to be disappointed due to limited availability of the product, and the possibility of causing confusion for staff and customers at other stores.
The chain has apologised to customers for the sudden postponement and inconvenience caused, saying they aim to add the meal to the menu sometime in the future when it’s safer to do so. With Tokyo still under a state of emergency and coronavirus cases currently on the rise, it’s unclear when the Toast Soba will become available, but until then you might want to try the highly rated offerings at the top nine stand-and-eat soba noodle restaurants in Tokyo.
Source, images: Fujisoba
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!